A Wedding in Pavlodar

Recently we were invited to attend the wedding of a friend of Brett's from the university. This was our first "Kazakh wedding" and we were quite excited for the experience. The drive to Pavlodar from Astana was supposed to take 4.5 hours. It took 6. The roads were in terrible condition (we were traveling with another friend in her vehicle), and once we reached the town we spent about half an hour trying to locate the reception hall.


* I will take this opportunity to brag about my children. Ordinarily I would not take two children ages 5 and 2 from a 6 hour drive straight into a wedding reception (which lasted another 4 hours), but we did. THEY WERE FANTASTIC! The woman with whom we drove could not stop singing their praises (this is where Brett and I were giving each other high fives) and kissing and hugging our children in relief. *

While we were trying to locate the reception hall, the bride called us. Twice.
Bless her heart, here she is on her wedding day worrying about the crazy foreigners who were coming to her wedding. As it turns out they were waiting for us to start....this was only the beginning.

When we arrived we were seated to the right of the wedding party at table #1. The table was laden with food from fish to salads and bread. There were three different glasses at the table (two for alcohol and one for juice) Once our juice glasses were filled the toasting began. At our table were seated the "english speakers" which was very beneficial for our translation as everything was in Kazakh (not even Russian with which we are more familiar). At our table was also seated an older couple who could not speak English but quickly became our friends as well (thanks to the alcohol and that we were excited for the medals Kazakhstan won in the Olympics) :)

During the toast of the parents they thanked us for coming to the wedding (specifically), and then presented us with gifts....

The party continued in rare form.

There was traditional Kazakh dancing.

Then a gentleman comes over and tells us that as the honored guests he has a gift for us.  He would like to present a horse for Noah. At first we thought he was joking, or maybe that he meant to give the gift to the family of the bride on behalf of Noah. No. He wanted to give us a horse. He retuned to get our address and asked how we would like the horse delivered. We convinced him, that as we did not have a suitable place for the horse if he would keep it for us, and we would ride it the next time we were in town. :)

Then some toasts.

Then Flamenco dancing ?

Then some toasts.

Then some singers.

Then more toasts.

Then Olivia received a marriage proposal ... more of an arranged marriage situation. Brett and I gave a panicked glances at each other until our interpreter got rid of the would be offender.

Then the main dish was served (beshbarmak-yum).

More toasts. (By now everyone seems to be swimming, and Brett and I are very amused watching).

Some dancing.


A professional ballroom couple dancing.

More toasts.

A saxophonist (female) in gold go-go boots, silver spandex shorts, a gold tuxedo jacket (I couldn't quite see the shirt color), and long black hair rocking it on the dance floor (Napoleon Dynamite style) while playing her saxophone. Wow.

More toasts.

By this time it is about 11:00 and the kids (and us) are exhausted. We ask if we can retire to the apartment that the family rented for us (isn't this awful. We felt so spoiled and it wasn't even our wedding). They said we were welcome to go but first we need to go downstairs for tea and cake.

By this time we are so desperate for water, but down we went to eat sweets, at 11:00 at night, without liquid. The room looked like the mad hatters tea party, with sweets and cake, and nuts and tea pots. It was beautiful. What finished the picture was sitting down with all these beautiful old Kazakh men and women as they enjoyed their tea.

We were then brought upstairs to the coat room to get our bags. A drunk uncle came to "help me" down the stairs to the car. While I was holding on to him so he would not fall he starts saying in a sing song voice "I'm skipping, I'm skipping" (he laughs) then says "English". I could not help but laugh along.

We were driven to our apartment that the family had rented for us and was handed a large bag of food so as not to worry about breakfast. We were also asked as it was a large two bed apartment if our translator could sleep in the other room. We were more then compliant especially as there were extra mattresses for Olivia and Noah. Around 2 AM another family arrived (not our translator), so I helped them in and situated another mattress for their little boy. When we got up the next morning the little family had changed into two middle aged women? We were so confused.... :)



We spent the rest of the day exploring Pavlodar, which was surprisingly wonderful. It was fantastic to see mature trees (with Autumn leaves), a clean, flowing river, and a delicious restaurant. We took a train home and walked through our door at 6:00 AM Saturday morning and walked straight into bed.